Gov. Andrew Cuomo is pushing a new giveaway to construction unions that will also give him a chance to raise even more cash from developers.
New York’s “prevailing wage” law now covers all public-works jobs bid out by the state or local governments, effectively mandating that builders pay union wage. It adds as much as 25% to the cost to build or repair every school, highway, sewer, etc. in the Empire State.
Now Cuomo, in his new executive budget, aims to extend the rule to large projects (over $5 million) that get partial state subsidies (30% or more of costs) — unless the developer signs a Project Labor Agreement to use union labor anyway.
Private-sector protests have killed past legislation along these lines. In (sort of) response, Cuomo’s bill allows what the Empire Center’s Ken Girardin rightly calls a host of “catches, carve-outs and exceptions — capped by vast discretion for the governor to secretly decide which projects and builders might escape the mandate.”
This would let the gov keep costs down for projects vital to his agenda, such as a renewable-energy plant.
And, working through a board he appoints, any job could get an exemption. That’s a great way for Cuomo to squeeze more campaign donations from well-heeled developers and so on.
What about the state’s latest campaign-reform law? The governor made sure it won’t restrict his fundraising through 2022.
This is what they mean when they say Cuomo plays three-dimensional chess.